Small plate, big flavor

By Diane Petersen NYT Regional Media Group

Wednesday

Aug 29, 2007 at 12:19 AMAug 29, 2007 at 10:26 AM

For the first 20 years of her culinary career, Dana Jaffee created highly visual, labor-intensive pasta, fish and vegetarian dishes. Then five years ago, she joined Saddles steakhouse in Sonoma, Calif., where the bulk of the orders involve grilled meat.

“On a busy night, we have six or seven cuts of meat, three or four sizes of each, for a total of 60 to 70 pieces of meat on the grill at one time,” Jaffe said.

So who better to consult for barbecue ideas this Labor Day when you’ve got a hankering for that juicy tri-tip or rib- eye steak on the grill?

First, buy the best-quality meat you can afford.

Jaffe jumped into the meat world with both cleavers. She educated herself by cutting beef and learning about such mysteries as marbling and grading. Then she inaugurated blind tastings of different purveyors’ beef to find the best beef for the buck.

“We’ll cook them and taste them once for flavor, and once for texture and mouth feel,” she said. “Then we’ll decide which one is the best bet for the money.”

If you want to serve high-quality beef but you don’t want to break the bank, Jaffe suggests preparing beef brochettes.

“The nice thing with a brochette is that you can take a small amount of high-quality meat and stretch it further,” she said. “And it’s healthier.”

For the brochettes, Jaffe marinates chunks of filet mignon in olive oil and honey, which caramelizes on the grill.

She serves the filet on bamboo skewers with summer vegetable such as peppers, tomato, squash and fresh white corn, and a crispy, deep-fried potato wedge with chipotle aioli.

Another option: Grill a 6-ounce filet, served with a wilted spinach salad on the side.

“In the summer, it’s nice to eat lighter, and meat can be heavy,” Jaffe said. “This is a small filet, and the spinach salad has a warm tomato vinaigrette.”

• Give your coals time to develop. “Most people use way too much charcoal and let the fire get too hot,” she said. “You want the coals to get the gray ash — that way the heat is there, but the flame is gone.”

• Bank the coals on one side. That way you can sear the meat over the coals, then move it over to complete cooking with indirect heat.

• If you’re cooking meat and vegetables, cook the vegetables separately. “That way you have better control over the cooking,” she said.

• Use a metal skewer rather than a soaked bamboo skewer. “If your flames are a little too high, it will burn right through the bamboo,” she said. “When I do use bamboo, I like to thread the meat all the way to the end so that the tip does not burn.”

• Finally, make sure you do as much prep work ahead as you can. That way you will have plenty of time to enjoy the holiday with your guests and a glass of red wine.

You can use day-old baked potatoes for this recipe. You could also partially cook some red potatoes in the microwave, then grill them with olive oil, salt and pepper.

For confetti stir fry: Sauté vegetables just long enough to set color. Add salt and pepper. Toss with fresh herbs and cherry tomatoes.

For potatoes: Mix spices together and set aside. Coat potatoes lightly with olive oil and grill until lightly crisp. Then coat potatoes generously with spices. Set aside and keep warm.

To plate: Place 3 potato wedges and 3 brochettes opposite each other on a plate. Top with warm vegetable. Makes 4 servings.

For Filet:

2 6-ounce portions high-quality filet mignon

2 ounces clarified butter

Salt and pepper to taste

For Wilted Salad:

1/2 pound spinach

1/2 cup cooked, chopped applewood smoked bacon

4 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

For Tomato Vinaigrette:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

2 fresh tomatoes, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

For filet: Brush steaks with clarified butter and season with salt and pepper. Place on a hot, well-oiled grill and cook, turning once to mark, for 6 to 8 minutes on each side until medium rare.

For wilted salad: In a large skillet, place the vinegar, sugar, garlic and chopped tomatoes. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens. Add spinach and rapidly toss to coat. Drizzle with olive oil. Top with cherry tomatoes and applewood smoked bacon. Serve with the 6-ounce filet mignon. Makes 2 servings.

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